Category Archives: Blogging

I feel like practically every time a blogging conference rolls around I start wishing I were there. This happens especially when The Altitude Summit (aka Alt) happens.

I’d already decided to set aside coins and some cash for a special treat as one of my goals for the year. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that I was going to save up for Alt Summit in Salt Lake City in 2014.

Savings Jar – So Far

I know I’m going to need to step up my savings game, but I found this great idea from The Full Moxie that I’m going to implement. Basically, you start the 1st week in the year by putting $1 in the jar. The following week, $2. Then so on and so forth until the end of the year, always putting in as much money as it is the week in the year. If you go to The Full Moxie website, in the link I just referenced, she’s even included a printable!

I ended up spending money, but I found this large decorative jar at Target and I’m going to use it to save for Alt!

Alt Summit Map – Picture by Justin Hackworth via the Alt Flickr page.

I’ve loved reading all of the recaps of Alt. I was stalking the #altsummit hashtag on instagram and twitter the entire weekend that it was happening.. And I loved this map where all of the attendees placed their business cards.

I am so proud of this little state where I live. I really want to go and put Maine bloggers on the map!

P.S. Have you ever been to Alt Summit? Are you going to go next year? What’s your method for saving?

I re-pinned this image from Eileen a few weeks ago, and although I thought it was fun, I didn’t really think I was going to fall in love with the idea of doing an Art Journal Calendar. But I figured out that if I did this for the year, then at the end of the year when I want to do a review and look back over the year, I can just look through my little notebook and see all the good little things that happened… even if the things that happen this year are not big exciting things. And, I’ve stuck with it! I created my calendar and have been writing things in every day.

Around the same time, I actually de-activiated my facebook, and it’s been wonderful. I feel like I am getting so much more accomplished because I’m not spending my evenings just spending time doing nothing on facebook. I’ve been creating things, and getting things done for work. I’ve also been cooking and organizing around the house more.

New etsy shop item!

I made myself a bracelet out of the rings I had around that I never wore, like my high school class ring that’s since gotten too small, and loved it so much that I went out and bought a whole bunch of rings that were on sale/clearance, and made a few to sell!

More paracord bracelets!

I also re-listed all of my expired paracord bracelets in my etsy shop, and added a few more. I let everything expire and moved things to storenvy… but I think I’m going to go back to etsy. Although there are fees, I would like to get more involved in the community that is over there, and I think at this point, it just makes sense for my store to be there.

So go and check it out! It’s updated with lots of fun goodies! To head over there, just click the image below!

I feel like I always have wonderful intentions in blogging and keeping up with it, and then life just gets in the way. I am swearing off “Black Friday” and the crazy over-consumption in our lives, and so I spent yesterday at home with family… as well as reading, and re-doing my blog! Check out the new look if you’re reading it in a feed reader… because I’m so so so happy with how it looks right now. I walked around my house calling it “Blog Friday” instead!

Also, my last post was my 100th post!! WHOOOOOHOOO! I feel like this calls for a celebration, maybe in the form of a giveaway.

Maybe my giveaway can be my mom’s book! She just was able to cross a huge item off her bucket list. She’s always wanted to publish a children’s book, and just a few weeks ago, it happened!

I know that people are always talking about how you have to blog because you love it, and blog for yourself. I love blogging about what I love.. but I also love the comments I receive and knowing that other people are reading this blog. I know it’s important to put out original content, and I feel like I need to do more of that. I just feel like not many people read my blog, but I also know that I get kind of lazy when it comes to my blog… I don’t nearly put enough time and energy into making my posts and then posting them to social media to get more people to the blog to read.

I’m going to stop rambling. I’m just going to start doing. Start really putting myself out there. Being brave and vulnerable. Sharing my thoughts and opinions and this blog with as many people as I can.

I’m so sorry I’ve been a bad blogger. I really don’t have an excuse… I’ve been going to work and then coming home and just relaxing. And for the weekends, I’ve been doing more relaxing, spending time with my family. and then last weekend was super busy. Last Saturday I got my hair cut, went to a former co-worker’s baby shower, my dad came home from a month & a half long trip to Australia, and went to my work’s annual auction. It was a blast, and fun to hang out with the parents of my toddlers in my class outside of them dropping off and picking up their kids.

Today I ran errands, like my usual Target run, when I saw a table in someone’s yard down the street with a free sign on it… well as soon as I got home, my mom and I jumped into my car and drove back and get it. I’m not going to lie, that was the first time I just grabbed a free item from someone’s curb. My mom and I managed to get it into my Toyota RAV4 (with the seats down) and I’m so super excited to fix it up a little and put it in my room. Though when we got it out of the car when we got home my dad asked if we wanted him to bring it to the dump!

I have a whole list of ideas of blog posts to write… so hopefully I can get a bunch written and scheduled. I have some book reviews to write up. Naptime is the perfect time to get reading done! I also have to post about receiving my first Stitch Fix. I also got a few awesome items recently so I will have some good WIW posts. I also have a co-worker’s Halloween party to attend tonight, so I will have a good post about what I wore for Halloween!

I apologize for how quiet it’s been around these parts. A few weeks ago, my dad left for a business trip, and right after he left, our internet started acting up. My dad’s probably the most technologically savvy person in our family, with me second, followed by my mom and sister. And without my dad around, and with me not having any idea on how to fix our internet problems, we were stuck kind of dealing with sometimes having internet, but most of the time, getting a lot of this:

Luckily, my dad came back a few days ago, and fixed our internet problems this weekend. My internet is now speedier than it was before! So hopefully, I won’t have to take any breaks that long for a long time.

I also gave my two weeks notice… about two weeks ago! I got offered a full time Assistant Toddler Teacher job. I start on Tuesday. So I had a busy last week at my current jobs… especially my afternoon job where many of our summer staff left to go back to college. On the weekends I’ve been getting ready for my new job. Oh, and we had a yard sale last weekend, so I was pretty busy with that on Saturday.

Also, this new blog is still a work in progress, so bear with me as I’m still working on the sidebar and organizing and planning weekly series(s).

I thought I’d give you some insight as to why I started a “new” blog with a new name… I’m using the term “new blog” loosely since I have imported all of my old blogs posts (& comments!!).

In middle/high school, we had a unit in our English Class where we learned about vignettes, read them, and wrote some. According to Wikipedia, a vignette is just a short scene, something focused on one moment. I thought of how blog posts could be little vignettes, little scenes of my day. I also realized that by my old blog being called “Small Town 20 Something” I would eventually have to rename/rebrand my blog anyway if I ever left my small town, or in 6 years (if I was still blogging there) since I’d then be a 30 something. This name is much more flexible in terms of where I live and my age, since neither is in the title.

And since I realized my old blog’s about me page was awful, and I am still working on updating this one, I thought I’d give any new visitors an idea of who is blogging!

My name is Monique. I’m 24. I graduated in 2011 with a bachelors degree in Marketing Management and a certificate in Web Development. I went to school in Vermont, and have grown up/currently live in Maine. My parents were gracious enough to let me move back in with them, so I live with my mother, father, dog named Abby, and my awesome crazy cat (who thinks he’s a dog) named Charlie. I currently work two part time jobs to pay my student loan debt off… I nanny in the morning for two awesome kids, and in the afternoons I work at a child care center… mostly with the school aged kids, but sometimes I float to other classrooms too. I probably will talk about taking care of kids, or link to kid type-stuff I like, but I don’t have kids of my own.. so that will be where that kind of stuff comes from.

Most days I don’t really think in detail about what I’m going to wear, and since sometimes I get baby drool on my shirts I’m not super picky. I have posted a little bit about What I Wore, though those posts are few and far between. Family and Friends are some of my most common topics. Charlie is also a pretty popular guy around here.

So I didn’t plan to take a month long break from blogging. It just kind of happened. Things have been so busy here lately that the time I usually spend writing, planning, and scheduling posts (mostly the weekends) has been filled with other things.

The weekend after I posted my last post, I went to a wedding for a friend of mine, Bonnie, who I had met through being a bridesmaid at our friend Ruth’s wedding last summer. People were at the reception and dancing for hours, so I really didn’t get home until a lot later than I intended!

The following week we were cleaning, organizing, and de-cluttering the kitchen, since we were expecting work on our kitchen to start that week.

Before.

It ended up not happening till the following week but since my mom was at camp, and my dad was out of town, I was kind of holding down the fort.

After. New Window, Floor, Countertops, & Trim-work

We rented a camp up in Belgrade Lakes, which we had last summer too, and I did end up going up there twice. Mostly I was home though. I went up there the 21st and 22nd of July, and mostly hung out with my cousins kids, fishing, swimming, and boating. I went back up on the 25th and did some watercolor painting.

B got really upset I kayaked so far away from camp. But then he felt better after posing for a picture!

I put together a little package of goodies for Eileen, Kyle & their pets, and sent that out.

I went up to Burlington the 28th and the 29th, to hang out with some friends.

This lighter was like stuck in the concrete of the sidewalk in Burlington. Tasha, KT and I seriously enjoyed this too much.

I ended up signing up for Content is King and Media Kits that Will Make You Money as my free Alt Summit classes for July. That happened at the beginning of last week. They were both really good. And definitely gave me a lot to think about as far as this blog goes. Look out for me to re-brand… including a new name! I’m very excited about it.

Charlie says: “Get ready for this awesomeness!”

Then last weekend I babysat, went blueberry picking with my family, and out to lunch for my Aunt Belinda’s birthday. I went to my Aunt’s camp that she rents for a week every August.. (I’ll probably spend some time there again this weekend.) But I promise I will be posting again soon! 🙂